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Saturday, 4 April 2015

The Grand Budapest Hotel

IMDb says, "GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL recounts the adventures of Gustave H, a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars, and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend. The story involves the theft and recovery of a priceless Renaissance painting and the battle for an enormous family fortune -- all against the back-drop of a suddenly and dramatically changing Continent."

I watched it with my mother last night, and we both loved it! The Grand Budapest Hotel is surreal yet entertaining, lively, and amusing. Almost the whole way through, it made my mother and I scream with laughter, even at parts that otherwise would have been seen as morbid. Needless to say, I found this film very artistic in a way; and who wouldn't want to stay in a crazy pink hotel for lone artists and writers alike?

There were many surprises, some of them good, and some of them not so good. One of the things that irked me was the flash back sequence of present-day Zero and lobby boy Zero, though that may just be me being nit-picking over my favourite character; the two actors for Zero were obviously not chosen well, as the two were different ethnicities, which impacted a little on how believable the tale was. Then again, the whole film was rather bizzare - in its own impressive, unique way, of course - so it probably shouldn't stand out to me as much as it did.

Another shock was the language used throughout. Gustave H swore like a sailor, which was strange considering his flamboyancy and the era the film is set in. I really couldn't imagine people from the 30s-40s and backwards using such foul language - the worst that is said in Jeeves and Wooster is "bally", and even then Bertie gets a right ticking off!

The thing that I loved was the eye-candy of the whole hotel, and not to mention those mouth-wateringly gorgeous Mendel cakes dotted throughout the film! The interiors were wonderful, so much that I felt overwhelmed trying to take every last beautiful detail in; this film definitely needs a re-watch, just for the beauty!

The locations and scenery of Austria-Hungary was also a pleasure to watch, even in the dead of winter. There was lots of symbolism used throughout, even through little everyday objects, and the soundtrack was fantastic in providing atmosphere, even without an extremely tense 'Psycho' like feel.

About Me

Hi! My name's Ellie. I'm 18 and live in Britain. I'm an author of historical and LGBT fiction, such as "When the Summer Ends" and "Mansions of Glass", which you can find on Amazon. I'm also very interested in sewing and costume design, and would like to start filming at some point.